Congress Treachery

Media footsies of Congress were busy last week trying to covertly defend or cover up the “Neech” comment by ManiShankar Aiyar. They went on a digging spree to find out who called others names first. They pointed PM Modi calling SoniaG names like “Jersey Gai” in 2004. Of course, they forget that it’s the Congress that started this filthy practice. ManiShankar called AB Vajpayee a “Nalayak” in 1998. ABV was one of the most honourable politicians and PMs ever. I have never known ABV to use harsh language for anyone despite being a tall leader of greater stature than anyone around him in the Parliament or in politics during his period. Since 2002, the Congis have heaped dozens of abusive names on Modi, some of it coming directly from the foul-mouthed, uneducated SoniaG. Not brainy enough to write her own speeches she relied on scripts written by others without knowing the consequences. Each time she hurled an abuse directly or through her Pidis, Modi just kept growing stronger and winning some more. Let’s forget all the name-calling.

SoniaG grandly taught her duffer son “Power is poison” as the Ponzi-Hindu son claimed in the Congress meet in 2013. Looks like this vicious, hate-filled woman desperately desired nothing but this “poison” all along. And 3 years out of power, thrashed in elections in many states, the worst electoral-slaughter being in UP, has driven these power-hungry Congis into extreme desperation. And it is all showing up in the Gujarat campaign. There is a reason and source for this desperation. You see, in the past, the Congis were confident of toppling any non-Congress govt at the Centre or State because they couldn’t muster a full majority. Here’s a history of non-Congress PMs:

Prior to ABV becoming PM again in October 1999, not one single PM from the above list could complete a full term. ABV was voted out twice through no-confidence motions. Once in 1996 and once in 1999. Some of these PMs couldn’t even manage a year in office. This is what has driven the Chinese Gandhis to extreme desperation. Modi has a total, unbreakable majority and they cannot topple his govt. In many states too, a non-Congress govt has unbreakable majority, particularly the BJP. Congress couldn’t even manage border-line cases like Goa, Arunachal or Manipur. Such has been the dominance of BJP under the leadership of Modi. Come Gujarat and the Congis hatched a grand plan to fool the Hindu-majority state with their “Clown King” parading as a Hindu-Bhakt running around temples - 24 in all. I don’t think RahulG would have visited so many temples in all his life. On December 11, drama-queen RG grandly carried the “Swastika” flag at the JaiRanchod temple:

Even the worst scumbag wouldn’t indulge in fraudulent acts like these for votes. In the whole Gujarat campaign, not once have the Congis uttered their pet word “Muslim”. All this, while Kapil Sibal tried to stall the Ram Mandir hearing in the SC. Everyone knows both Sonia and Congress bear extreme hatred towards Hindus. And as if to demonstrate this some more, RG brings in his friend and Congress spokie from JK, a guy called Salman Nizami to secretly address a Muslim gathering in Kutch. Now, this Nizami has abused India, called President Mukherjee a “bastard”, has vowed that Afzal Guru will be avenged and wants Kashmir to be broken away from India. This traitor and anti-national is the mascot of RG and Congress. The title “traitors” suits the party quite well. A quick and brief look at this Nizami and one would be horrified that the guy could be called to campaign for any party at all:

There is more to this scumbag Nizami. PGurus reports (extract): According to IB officials, Salman Nizami actively participated in igniting the Kashmir students in JNU and was behind funding and harbouring… photos also show him with Digvijaya Singh, when he visited JNU and addressed the students. It also shows the murky role of Digvijaya Singh in creating chaos in JNU by aligning with anti-national forces. The JNU’s controversial Afzal Guru remembrance ceremony in February 2016 was actively supported by Salman Nizami and he was actively associated with student leaders like Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and Shehla Rashid. IB officials indicated that Salman Nizami had collected funds for igniting JNU students from Kashmir and harbored them in safe zones. He was in touch with many journalists in Kashmir and New Delhi. His mobile call records also show that he was in regular touch with them in creating faking news to create panic.

Such a dubious character like Nizami was given a pass by most media. Only TimesNow and a couple of others reported this anti-national being used by Congress for votes. That apart, all the regular Congress bootlickers like Shekhar Gupta, Rajdeep Sardesai, Rahul Kanwal, Sagarika, Nidhi Razdan and the usual Commie gang kept ranting Modi is campaigning excessively in Gujarat and that he is worried BJP will lose Gujarat. In all the years I have observed him, Modi has never run a half-hearted campaign, never taken any state or voter for granted and as a leader he has never left the job half-finished. To understand his method of election-campaigning, I recommend you go through the post “Why Modi won’t leave it to No.10” again. It’s a leadership quality to emulate if one is leading a campaign. The Sickulars and their media want that Modi loosen his vigil and campaign so that things are a lot easier for the Congress and their Ponzi-Newborn-ShivBhakt. Modi has sworn to put Congress away and he will do everything he can to make that happen.

The Congress knows it cannot win Gujarat. Their media bootlickers know Congress cannot win Gujarat. The assorted Commies know Congress cannot win Gujarat. So, the advisors to the Congis game up with the game-plan of the “Caste” factor again pitting Patels against Patels and promising bogus, illegal Reservations for the Patidars; in addition to RG playing the Ponzi-Bhakt. This has already backfired. And true to its nature, the Congress keeps running Ponzi schemes to fool voters and there isn’t one iota of truth or sincerity in anything that Pappu says or does. He also claimed Gujarat and BJP have not given any compensation for the July 2017 flood victims. That’s another outright LIE. Amidst all this, elsewhere, ManiShankar was hatching a grand meeting with the Pakis at his residence. This happened on December 6 at the height of the Gujarat campaign and just a few days before actual polls.

MSA and other Congis have frequently slept with the enemy. They have slept with the Separatists in Kashmir. They have slept with Pakis in Pakistan, hobnobbed with ISI operatives and MSA also told a Pak TV channel: “Bring us (Congress) to power and remove him (Modi)” for better relations with Pak. Even the stunned anchor said it’s for “you” and not for Pak to do that. Such treachery is dangerously disturbing. This meeting with the Paki HC, a former Pak Minister and others was attended by MMS, Hamid Ansari and Sickular anti-nationals from the media and politics. STUNNING! The Congi gang first denied this clandestine meeting and then tried to brazen it out and claimed it’s a private meeting that doesn’t need informing anyone. Really? A few months back, RG also met the Chinese envoy clandestinely, during the Doklam stand-off. The Congis denied such a meeting and then admitted it when evidence showed up on the official Chinese website confirming the meeting. And such are the devious ways of the Congress, they even got the Chinese to delete their press note on the meeting from their website.

Chronic liars and deceivers! And then MMS wrote to PM Modi stating the meeting only discussed Indo-Pak relations and not Gujarat elections. Even if Modi has made mistakes in handling Pakistan, as MMS and Congis claim, there is nothing he has done that was clandestine or done like a “thief in the night” as the Congis have been doing. Ask the question – Where do these Chinese Gandhis go when they travel abroad? Nobody ever knew, no media ever asked. They go secretly like thieves in the night and return in the same fashion. They can have privacy in their family life but surely, as leaders of a political party, they cannot hoodwink the nation on their trips. It is disgusting that a spineless, corruption-supporting former PM behaves in this fashion and still claims he is honourable. To say MMS is a downright scumbag and nothing but a low-level poodle of Sonia and the family would be an understatement. He has brought insult and shame to the PMO in his tenure and rightfully deserved the title “Dehati Aurat”, a whiner with nothing to show for his tenure or life.

Who in hell knows what they discussed or whether they kissed each other or had an antinational-orgy to topple Modi? Imagine, a US delegation clandestinely meeting Iranian politicians to topple Donald Trump. This Congi gang meeting a bunch of Pakis is not very different. And they don’t fool anyone with what their agenda really is. This is treachery of the highest order and that a former PM from the Congress and a former VP from the same party chose to keep it a secret meeting till caught like thieves says a lot about the Congress, about SoniaG and about RahulG. To me, the whole gang is a bunch of traitors who have indirectly supported enemies and terrorists to undermine a democratically elected govt and a very popular PM. And the Congi doormats in the media think Modi should neither raise this issue nor make it a political issue during Gujarat elections:

 

Although it didn’t happen and will never happen – Just imagine if AB Vajpayee had met the Pakis or Chinese in a similarly secret manner like a thief. What would these Congi Pidis like Rajdeep, Saba or Urdu-Ponzi Siddiqui say? They would bay for the blood of ABV and Modi and would have demanded the resignation of Modi. TREASON happens in many ways and there is no one way it can happen. Most of the men who met the Pakis have held govt positions, one being former PM and a former VP. They hold many govt classified information between them? It is reasonable and fair to suspect these clowns were not meeting the Pakis merely for Biryani. Their purpose is obviously political and a conspiracy that might seek to undermine India or the PM. What other purpose do they have? Surely, hugging each other or kissing each other can be done in public without having to resort to closed-door, secret meetings that have to be discovered accidentally. Shame on these traitors – all of them, including those who defend this nonsense of Congi traitors.

There is another important question that none of these jokers are asking. If the focus of the meeting was merely “Indo-Pak” relations as claimed why were only Congis and their stooges present? Why not representatives from DMK or RJD or CPM or the Owaisi gang? All these parties are darlings of Pak too. It’s crystal clear that the meet was nothing but an act of treachery to plot the removal of PM Modi and how to grapple with the Gujarat elections. These media poodles of Congress can rant all they want and demand apologies for their orgasms but the Congi conspirators and their media Pidis deserve a resounding slap for the entire episode.

It’s easy to forget Sonia’s hunger for the “poison” she calls power. In 1997, even when she wasn’t party president, Sonia threatened to pull out of the IK Gujral govt if he didn’t drop DMK ministers. Why? Because Sonia claimed the DMK was supportive of the LTTE that killed Rajiv Gandhi. She did pull down the Gujral govt forcing another election in 1998. She also forced Sitaram Kesari out of office, literally. And when the Congress came to power, DMK was one of the strongest allies and together they scammed and looted the country left, right, centre and above in the skies. A woman without any principles in politics became the Congress President and now the duffer son is the President. And their hypocrisy and hunger for power has gotten worse enough to now serenade rogue elements and terrorists of Pakistan and those sponsored by Pakistan. The entire Congress govt, particularly P. Chidambaram, conspired to celebrate Ishrat Jehan as a martyr when all evidences pointed to her being a LeT terrorist. Now the only political policy that Congress has is – Topple PM Modi at any cost by hook or crook, by terrorists or enemies, ANYTHING!

The desperation is not with BJP or with PM Modi. Gujarat is his home-state and he is justified in ensuring that no effort is spared in retaining the BJP govt there. The entire gang of Commie-Sickulars, Hindu-haters and much of MSM is pitted against ONE MAN who refuses to relent. These gangs know all too well that Congress cannot win Gujarat and they cover their sorrows with fakery like this:

 

Pappu has become King. Pappu has achieved puberty. Pappu has arrived. And even if Congress loses, Pappu is still the winner. All it took was another presser of RG to show he is ignorant and had to be fed chits by RS Surjewal and the latter answered most questions without much knowledge. If this makes them happy, so be it. I don’t think Modi bothers even if they declare Congress the winner after BJP wins handsomely and retains Gujarat. In 2012, P. Chidambaram (himself accused of election fraud) claimed "BJP attained less than 117 seats in Gujarat, we (Congress) have made significant gains, it’s our victory”. Well, if the traitors of India, who need Paki help, who need the help of Kashmiri Separatists in Gujarat, consider that their victory. I don’t think BJP or Modi will complain about 117 seats. It will not alter Congress treachery. And no Ponzi ShivBhakt will make any difference what post he holds in Congress. 

 

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BabaRamdev: Media's Mudslinging-Season-2, Episode-1

In a tweet on August 8 I had predicted some serious mudslinging against Baba Ramdev (BRD) when he starts another campaign at Ramlila on Thursday, August 9. No it didn’t take the IB or RAW to tell me that. I just recalled how last year CNN-IBN had inaugurated mudslinging season against BRD as he started his agitation in June 2011. This time Rajdeep Sardesai and Sagarika Ghose (the eminent Social Genius) are not alone. They are joined by master ‘News-Breaker’ Bhupendra Chaubey from their own stable. And then there were others like Madhu Trehan, Suhel Seth (The Item-Girl specialist) and a few more. We will come to Chaubeji and the rest a bit later.

First things first! Let’s start with the common question by all anchors, all anti-BRD panellists and of course, Congress. Why is BRD’s assistant Balkrishna appearing in posters with terrorists like Bhagat Singh and Rajguru at Ramlila? That’s blasphemy! Oh wait, it’s not me calling them terrorists, it’s our own school text books calling them that. And who allowed such textbooks? ICSE and the Congress govt of AP did. Even Mahatma Gandhi reportedly did not protest the hanging of Bhagat Singh. I did not see a similar protest from the media when heroes like Bhagat Singh were called terrorists. Did you? It’s alright, as they say one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist. In this case one has to wonder who the other man is. Not to forget, when Anna’s ‘secular’ movement pulled down the large back-drop of ‘Bharat-Mata’ the media thought that was fair and there were no questions.

You see, idolisation is fine with the media only as long as it is for the Gandhi family. They can be anything or anyone. Take Rahul Gandhi. He can be Kashmiri, he can be Dalit, a Muslim, a Sikh, an Allahabadi and he can be a Brahmin as well. If there were a Chameleon’s Association they would have been seething in anger and protest. Not our media. But RG didn’t start that trend. It was started by Nehru then followed by Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and now Rahul Gandhi.

Hell, I forgot someone in between! The great saviour of India: Sonia Gandhi. Five years back Congressmen in MP dressed her up as the brave Rani of Jhansi in posters (don’t miss the cute little Rahul in the back-pack).  In true spirit and bravery of the Rani of Jhansi SoniaG battles all evils that threaten India and her people. Oh, I’m sure even in that case you will recall how strongly the media protested and Rajdeep, Arnab, Barkha, Chaubeji were all lambasting the Congress for insulting the memory of the brave Rani. No? They didn’t? Okay, so little Balkrishna appears with many other ordinary men in a poster with heroes and that’s the biggest problem for media. Exemplary unbiased morons!

Now, we can come back to Chaubeji. On August 9, he got up early and got out early and headed straight for Ramlila grounds to confront some women in the crowd. He asked them if they came on their own or were truck-rolled into Ramlila. To his surprise they told him they came from far off places in Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and such states. Not enough! So he goads another woman: “There are people who allege BRD has evaded tax, accumulated wealth and illegal properties?”. Hmmm! The woman replies with nonchalance: “Woh bewakoof hai!” (They are fools!) So Chaubeji got bitch-slapped over and over again with his silly questions. His questions tried their best to slander BRD but in vain. And he had stated in a tweet that he had the most “explosive” details about BRD’s tax evasion. Well, one sincerely hopes those explosive details don’t bomb the way Chaubeji did at Ramlila. So from last year our Mr.Chaubeji has now become Mudslinger Jr., next only to his boss.

And if Chaubeji does his thing in the morning can his boss, Mudslinger-in-Chief, be too far away? Rajdeep Sardesai started off early morning too with a stupid tweet asking if Ramdev can get some rains. Mind you, no Baba, no Swami, no Guru … nothing but plain ‘Ramdev’. Such is the contempt that our media gurus hold for him. Had it been a mullah Rajdeep would have addressed him as “Imam Saheb”. Well, you see BRD is clothed in saffron and Rajdeep’s loathing for that colour and Hindu traditions and customs is not such a big secret.

So at night Rajdeep repeats Chaubeji’s question: “Can Ramdev become the face of Anti-corruption?”. Someone on Twitter responded by asking if a bargirl and waitress can be the head of the UPA govt why BRD can’t be an anti-corruption crusader. Never mind! So RS asks Congressman Mani Shankar Aiyar the question and about crowds at Ramlila and MSA responds by stating “It’s a flop show”! Rajdeep turns to another panellist, Devender Sharma, and asks for a response. Sharma states a stunning fact: “The biggest flop in India is Congress’ youth icon Rahul Gandhi although the party will not accept it”. I would have to say going by history and facts Rahul Gandhi’s failures would actually be considered more than a flop. those would technically count as a total disaster. The difference is: Rahul Gandhi rides in the back-pack of Jhansi Ki Rani unlike BRD.

Hmm… so this Devendra Sharma wasn’t very obliging. So Rajdeep turns to a trusted RSS-hater, Kumar Ketkar. And because Rajdeep knows him to be a RSS-hater asks him a leading question: “Is BRD backed by RSS?” . Happily, Kumar Ketkar lets off a well-strung rant about BJP, RSS and BRD being the mask of these forces. KK implies, without saying it, that RSS is anti-national and to that Tarun Vijay shoots a few bullets calling KK “Friend of Pakistani supporters and ISI supporters in the media”. So you can see how Rajdeep wanted the debate to go. The idea was neither black money or corruption or BRD’s movement. Once again, it was how to trash BRD. Mudslinging at its best! I think both Mani Shankar Aiyar and Kumar Ketkar are scumbags from the filthiest of waters. But hey, don’t take my word for it! Listen to someone who is usually more profound with his loathing of the Twitterati: Nikhil Wagle. His tweet says a lot about about MSA and KK and their filthy language.

It’s not over until Justice Arnab sings it’s over. So apart from CNN-IBN, TimesNow too had a hilarious debate. Nothing particularly outstanding in that show except for Madhu Trehan outrageously charging BRD with “duping common people” and when asked about BRD’s ability to draw crowds, Item-Boy Suhel Seth responded with: “I can get item-girls from Bollywood and get you crowds of 30000”. I believe that is perfectly in sync with Suhel Seth’s job description. These are the stupid utterances of Trehan and Seth that pass for debate.

The singular chant of all anchors and media celebs is that BRD has been issued notices by IT department and allegations of illegal properties, whose private jets he flies and so on. Firstly, the IT and ED notices started only after BRD’s agitation last year. We all also know how the IT and ED work lately. LK Advani rightly stated: “The UPA survives because of its ally the CBI”. That’s how IT and ED are also used by Sonia Gandhi and the govt against adversaries and then their media stooges tom-tom that message as if BRD has been already proved a criminal. Nobody expects BRD to work miracles or expect black money to come back in 3 days or corruption to end immediately. He may not even know how the system or govt works. But there has to be a reason why the Chaubejis, Rajdeeps, Madhus, Aiyars, Ketkars and some more indulge in this extra-ordinary mudslinging against the man. Maybe it has to do with a colour or maybe it has something to do with phonecalls from upstairs. But either way, welcome to Mudslinging: Season-2 Episode-1.

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India's Worst TV Panellists

If you haven’t watched this particular episode of the CNN show ‘Crossfire’ I recommend that you do. It was the American version of Left and Right which made the unfortunate mistake of inviting film actor and satirist Jon Stewart as guest. Stewart not only exposed the hacks but accused the hosts of dividing the country with their mindless ‘theatre’ and ridiculed them so badly that the show had to be pulled off the air. That is the unfortunate truth. There is a great difference between good debates and ‘theatre’. And it is always easier to imitate evil than it is to replicate the good. The Indian TV channels and their daily debates are mostly nothing more than absurd theatre. Usually, the panellists on the show are picked not for their independence but for their political persuasions. Kicking and screaming, talking over each other, hurling insults is the kind of theatre that our media dishes out as ‘shows’ rather than sensible debates that can unravel facts. There are panellists like Soli Sorabjee or Harish Salve who hold strong views but express these with decency and respect for others. Not so the usual suspects who are handpicked for the divisive agenda of the media.

The Lokpal bill is obviously the flavour of the week. Far from discussing the contents of the draft bill or its clauses our media crooks were busy helping the govt divert attention by focussing excessively on the quotas and the comedy of Laloo Yadav. It is only Arvind Kejriwal from TeamAnna who talked about specific clauses in a presser. So, on December 22 I asked fellow tweeple who they thought were the worst TV panellists and the response was near unanimous when it came to naming those. 

Thanks to the responses of:

@shuchitac @samir21172 @_innovision @atulpandey1991 @aka_shan @bmukh2011 @vijayendradesai  @vksdbs7 @kittukrithika @shrutidharp  @james_priya

Mark Tully, the renowned British journalist, who is as Indian as you can get stated it best: Primetime debates an excuse for doing cheap TV:  “Well, as someone who is sometimes on these panels, frankly I am amazed that there are so many of them. There is a stage army of people really who come on to these panels….And I think this is largely an excuse for doing television on the cheap. I personally believe that we should have other ways of presenting the news, discussing the news than endless panel discussions…”. So here are India’s worst panellists. (They are listed randomly and not in any ranking)

Vinod Sharma – He’s the political editor of Hindustan Times. Yes, the one with that permanent smirk on his face which is eerily similar to the smirk that child molester S.P.Rathore sports. His boss is a Congress MP in Rajya Sabha and his newspaper itself is seen as a Congress mouthpiece. If he is on a panel you need not have a spokesperson from the Congress at all. At best, he will grudgingly concede the gaffes of the govt but will quickly come around to defend them by any and all spurious arguments.

Mani Shankar Aiyar -  Foul-mouthed, intemperate and vicious he probably considers it a goal scored if he manages to infuriate viewers. From his comment about Ajay Maken’s command of the English language to the most recent diatribe against Anna Hazare he is the best example of ‘theatre of the absurd’. As substitute for genuine argument he lately asks Anna to go back to Ralegan Siddhi and flog drunkards. And in intended pun he thought it was funny to state that we have heard the “Annas and paises” enough. Personal attacks and insults are his favourite form of healthy debate.

Teesta Setalvad – Think Gujarat and she will crawl out from anywhere and on every channel you can think of with that permanent scowl of hers. She is the favourite of our TV channels when it comes to bashing Narendra Modi and when required also trash the BJP. Not surprising, considering that she was funded by the likes of the Congress and CPM to campaign against them. The SIT that investigated Gujarat riots is on record stating the affidavits she engineered were mostly fake and her own associates have now turned against her. And because she is so tainted it makes her all the more endearing for channels like NDTV and CNN-IBN. The agendas match! Has sought anticipatory bail and none less than the Supreme Court has rapped her on the knuckles for frivolously attempting to internationalise what are matters for Indian courts. Of course, for all her services the Congress govt honoured her with a Padma Shri award. 

Renuka Chaudhury – Whosoever coined the phrase “insult to intelligence” must have pictured and heard this woman light years ago. If sheer cacophony were to win awards in a debate she would have a roomful. And, of course, the nation owes it to her for enlightening everyone that Rahul Gandhi isn’t a “parrot”! I still maintain that if the Congress wants to lose a battle or a debate or cut a sorry comic figure Renuka Chaudhury is any day a reliable bet. To her goes the credit of reducing of any debate to bickering and throwing her ‘weight’ around. I doubt if you would want her as a neighbour, one as shrill and senseless as her. 

Shoma Choudhury – She sure gets paid for ‘telling the truth’ as her rag called ‘Tehelka’ proudly claims as their tagline. Mind you, she is not your kicking and screaming types but an intelligent smooth-talker who will find great malleability with facts. Recently crossed swords with Subramanian Swamy on a channel discussing his controversial article in DNA for which his courses were cancelled at Harvard. She suggested the article was hate-speech but did not directly confirm if she had read it thoroughly when Swamy asked her. A rare one who can form opinions on people without reading what they have written. Her magazine is another one that resurrected itself after the UPA came to power in 2004. Her greatest moment must have been ‘THINK’, but I wish she would do that before speaking. 

Sanjay Nirupam – Last heard he is STILL a member of the Congress. Imagine a thousand empty vessels tumbling down a rocky mountain cliff and the sounds they would make. There, you have Nirupam! Loud-mouth who considers TV debates as election campaigns. What more can one say about him than cite Ashutosh of IBN7 who recently asked him to leave a debate if he could not tolerate the views of others. Maybe he should attend SriSri’s AOL courses or Dr.Phil’s art of being subtle. But knowing Nirupam he is not likely to learn new tricks in a hurry.

 Tushar Gandhi – He is not a frequent traveller on TV debates but springs up every time there is a discussion of Mahatma Gandhi. You would not be wrong in thinking he is Gandhi’s gift to God. At other times, he is the sole authority on what is “Gandhian” and what is not. Didn’t think too much when he considered selling out rare images of Gandhi to a corporate entity for commercial campaigns. To his credit, he is soft-spoken, mild mannered and not as belligerent as some of the other panellists that are frequently on display. But the world would be better off if he weren’t dishing out too many sermons in the name of Gandhi. Lately, this nation is getting a bit tired and restless with all the other Gandhis.

Nandita Rao – It is one thing to be kicking and screaming. But it gets worse when you have a bad voice too. The shrill lawyer is a favourite of CNN-IBN when it comes to Anna bashing. How she came to be a panellist on TV shows is a mystery that only CNN-IBN can answer but I’m sure quite a few strings, nay ‘ropes’, must have been pulled to get her there. Thankfully, her appearances have reduced and one hopes it stays that way. It is fair to oppose Anna and team on issues but to take a war-like, belligerent approach to debates is what makes up Nandita Rao. But she provides the kind of theatre that our TV channels desperately seek. Logic or sense be damned!

 Manish Tiwari – He is one of my all-time favourite panellists. If he is on a show he is bound to leave you spell-bound with some quote or the other. And he’s a lawyer too. His comment “Corrupt from head to toe” about Anna Hazare was made as a spokesman of the Congress and not as a panellist. Irritating, belligerent he could easily be the saint of lost causes. Since that comment on Anna he was gracious enough to apologise only to goof up again in parliament. Sushma Swaraj, leader of opposition, had to caution him with advice on being a first-time parliamentarian and to learn decency. Will he learn? Time will tell!

There were other names suggested like Suhel Seth, Mahesh Bhatt, Chandan Mitra and more and all of them deserve a place in this post but the list could go on and on and on.

Here is something that is disturbing about these panellists. Umesh Aggarwal, a documentary film maker, who has been exposing the underbelly of the media had this to say: “Every aspect of news be it political, business, sports or entertainment had a price tag. Even panel discussions on an important national issue were ‘fixed”. Guests were invited to give the discussion a particular slant. Selection of guests wasn’t dictated by the editorial policy of the group but there were other considerations”. That says everything about India’s worst panellists.